At the Center for Academic Innovation, my role as the inaugural Chief Education Solutions Officer (or CESO) is to open a new learning innovation horizon for the Center and help U-M achieve its next tier of educational impact. I do this by creating sustainable strategic partnerships that enable us to serve workforce and talent development needs of external organizations.
A new global survey encompassing the views of 1,540 board members and C-suite executives reveals that while corporate leaders are embracing artificial intelligence (AI) with optimism, a far more profound and existential talent crisis is emerging: the disappearance of the pathways that traditionally developed senior-level strategic expertise. AI is exposing not merely a lack of technical skills, but a critical thinking gap threatening the organizational pipeline needed to oversee and optimize these powerful new systems. In a moderated discussion with Joe Kornik, Senior Director, Editorial Programs, Protiviti, a series of experts and top executives from the consulting firm revealed the biggest concerns on executives' minds heading into 2026, during a lunchtime panel in New York City.
"We train our students. They're in the kitchen, they're learning all things within a very short amount of time. It's an intensive program and then we work to place them afterward," said Sherri Francois, the executive director of the SoLa Foundation, a nonprofit that works to empower underprivileged residents of Los Angeles with workforce development training. The foundation opened the cafe and culinary training program at its campus dubbed The Beehive at 1000 E. 60th St.
"More than 70 percent of employers say they'd rather hire someone with less experience but who understands AI than someone with more experience. That's a big change," said Lisa Gevelber, chief marketing officer for Gemini, Google's AI product.
Amazon has invested $52.3 billion in New York since 2010, including infrastructure and compensation to employees. The company has contributed $46 billion to the state's economy. Amazon partners with 20 New York educational institutions through its Career Choice program, offering employees prepaid tuition for skills development. More than 769 million items were sold by New York-based independent sellers through Amazon's store in 2024.
With generative AI, robotics, automation, and other technologies transforming how people do their jobs, corporate training has become more crucial. That said, company leaders shouldn't conduct any old form of training just to check it off the list. Evolving technologies mean corporate training must evolve, too. And that's why leaders should invest in video-based training by creating high-quality training videos that teach employees the skills, concepts, and workflows they need to thrive in the future workforce.
The YMCA of Greater New York is grateful for this critical investment from our generous partners at Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield that will help build our Community Lifesavers Lifeguard Initiative - training and certifying even more lifeguards across the city. This investment will enable the YMCA to further address the ongoing lifeguard shortage head-on and open doors to opportunities for New Yorkers of all ages who face barriers to becoming lifeguards.
He said he expects that Signature Development Group, the firm Valero consulted to assess the future of the site, will have a proposal ready around the time that Valero shuts down the refinery next year. City staff have also been using a priority-based budgeting tool that will inform the City Council and community on Benicia's most essential programs and those "that may need to be retired," Giuliani said, adding that the city could lose about 13% of its $60 million general fund.
'For decades, the dominant 'college for all' narrative has led to a narrow focus that often leaves students with degrees and debt but limited job prospects,' the grant priority proposal reads. 'By expanding the range of options so that a broader array of education providers can access existing funding in a manner that aligns outcomes with the demands of today's workforce, the government can foster both economic mobility for students and sustained competitiveness for the nation.
We've long recognized CPL's benefits for students. Learners who receive CPL credits are more likely to complete their degrees (49 percent vs. 27 percent for those without) and, on average, they earn 17.6 additional credits, finish nine to 14 months sooner and save between $1,500 and $10,200 in tuition costs ( CAEL). But what's often overlooked is CPL's power to transform relationships between educational institutions and employers-creating a win-win-win for students, institutions and industry.
Gavin Abundis watched as firefighter Adrian Chairez demonstrated how he uses pulleys and harnesses to rappel down buildings. You've probably seen it in the movies where they're going down Mission: Impossible style, Chairez said with a laugh one day this past winter as he prepared to step off a tower. We get to do that. Abundis, a then senior at Aptos high cchool in Santa Cruz county's Pajaro Valley unified school district,
The Cannabis Justice & Equity Initiative (CJEI) is closing out its Cannabis in the City tour with a powerful finale: Final Stop - The BQE, scheduled for Wednesday, September 24th, from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Restoration Plaza, 1368 Fulton Street, Community Room #1. This gathering marks more than the end of a community series-it represents a vital continuation of conversations on equity, justice, and reinvestment in communities deeply impacted by decades of anti-cannabis enforcement.
The agreement establishes NCTI as CCA's official training partner for a one-year pilot program, offering curated training content to competitive carriers across North America. The partnership is designed to equip CCA members with specialized skills to address critical operational gaps in areas such as frontline leadership, people skills, and customer care. The partnership will include joint webinars to bring NCTI's training and workforce development expertise to the CCA member community.
According to the company's announcement, the new network will deliver enhanced speeds, improved storm resilience, and expanded economic opportunities to residents across Miami-Dade County. Tillman Fiber's 100% fiber network is engineered with storm-resistant design features, intended to address Miami-Dade's unique vulnerability to severe weather events that can disrupt broadband services. Construction on the new network started in June 2025 and will proceed in phases, allowing customers to access services as network segments come online.
As an assemblymember representing the west side of Manhattan and the CEO of one of the city's largest homeless services organizations, we grapple with this complexity daily-how mental health and substance use disorders often interact to push stable housing further out of reach, creating a vicious cycle that plays out in our streets and subways. Project Renewal has quietly developed and tested occupational therapy programs that address the daily living skills essential for housing stability, from medication management to emotional regulation and job interview preparation.
If you're struggling to prove the ROI of your corporate training, you're not alone. Nearly 80% of L&D teams face this challenge. The result is budget cuts and a poor understanding of training's real value, which undermines both the industry and day-to-day L&D work. iSpring is bringing industry leaders together in person to tackle the ROI crisis head-on. This exclusive event is designed for professionals shaping the future of corporate learning: L&D leaders and managers Instructional designers HR leaders and decision-makers Corporate training experts
LinkedIn's chief economic opportunity officer recently warned that AI is "breaking" entry-level jobs that have historically served as stepping stones for young workers. As Aneesh Raman wrote in The New York Times, "Breaking first is the bottom rung of the career ladder." AI tools are performing simple coding and debugging tasks that junior software developers once did to gain experience, along with work that young employees in the legal and retail sectors traditionally handled.
Columbia Distributing leaders believe they've tapped into a pipeline for the next generation of beer industry workers. On the latest edition of the Brewbound Podcast, Columbia president and CEO Chris Steffanci, VP of sales, Portland Chris Watzig and former intern Rebecca Logan share the ins and outs of the Pacific Northwest distributor's Beer Careers Program. Watzig and Logan offer decades-apart experience of the 10-week paid internship program, which introduces participating students to all elements of Columbia's business and operations.
Continuing-education programs are one way for colleges and universities to provide targeted offerings and credentialing opportunities for alumni, adults in the region lacking postsecondary education and the local workforce. They also provide flexible support offerings, recognizing the competing identities and responsibilities adult learners hold. The School of Continuing and Professional Studies at Washington University in St. Louis houses certificate programs, undergraduate and graduate degrees, prison education initiatives, and lifelong learning courses for adults in retirement.
"How's that going to work when ten years in the future you have no one that has learned anything," he asked. "My view is you absolutely want to keep hiring kids out of college and teaching them the right ways to go build software and decompose problems and think about it, just as much as you ever have."
The $15 million infusion into the St. Louis Brewery revitalizes the manufacturing ecosystem in Missouri, modernizing supply chain infrastructure for efficiency and job creation.
New York City is investing billions in workforce development yet continues to overlook three of its most powerful, scalable, and community-rooted workforce engines: the arts, public libraries, and the Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP).
